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Common Quotes

“There is one way by which a strolling player may be ever secure of success; that is, in our theatrical way of expressing it, to make a great deal of the character. To speak and act as in common life is not playing, nor is it what people come to see; natural speaking, like sweet wine, runs glibly over the palate and scarcely leaves any taste behind it; but being high in a part resembles vinegar, which grates upon the taste, and one feels it while he is drinking.”

PeopleWayFeelsMayCharacterRunningLife IsSpeakNaturalDealsCommonActingBehindsPlayerSweetTasteWineDrinkingSecureOne WayTheatricalStrollingPalateVinegarCommon LifeGrateSweet Wine
Book:The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: The bee. Essays. Unacknowledged essays. Prefaces, introductions, etc
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“Perhaps I may record here my protest against the efforts, so often made, to shield children and young people from all that has to do with death and sorrow, to give them a good time at all hazards on the assumption that the ills of life will come soon enough. Young people themselves often resent this attitude on the part of their elders; they feel set aside and belittled as if they were denied the common human experiences.”

PeopleIfsGivingFeelsHumansMayChildrenMadeEnoughYoungCommonEffortAttitudeRecordsSorrowAssumptionGood TimesProtestDeniedHuman ExperienceEldersShieldsResentHazardsSoon Enough
Book:Twenty Years at Hull-House: With Autobiographical Notes
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“They may be all comprehended under three heads - 1st, Superstition; 2d, Power; 3d, the common interests of society, and the common rights of man.”

MenMayReligionThreeInterestCommonRightsSuperstitionsCommon Interests
Book:The Political Writings of Thomas Paine ...: Prospects on the Rubicon. Rights of man, part I. Rights of man, part II. Letter to the authors of the Republican. Letter to the Abbe Sieyes. Address to the addressers. Letters to Lord Onslow. Dissertation on the first principles of government. Speech delivered in the French National convention. Letter to Mr. Secretary Dundas. The decline and fall of the English system of finance. Letter to the people of France. Reasons for preserving the life of Louis
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“Motherhood, to be sure, receives a great deal of sentimental adulation, but only if it is committed in accordance with rules which have been prescribed by a predominantly masculine society. Per se it is accorded no respect whatever. When it results from a sexual relationship which has been duly sanctioned by organized society, it is holy, no matter how much it may transgress the rules of decency, health, or common sense. Otherwise it is a sin meriting social ostracism for the mother and obloquy for the child - an ostracism and obloquy, significantly enough, in which the father does not share.”

IfsMayChildrenDoeHas BeensMatterEnoughMotherFatherSocialSinResultsDealsCommonShareHolyCommittedMotherhoodCommon SenseOrganizedSentimentalMasculineDecencyNo RespectAdulationOstracismSocial Ostracism
Author:Suzanne La Follette
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“In the whole course of our work at the theatre we have been, I may say, drenched with advice by friendly people who for years gave us the reasons why we did not succeed... All their advice, or at least some of it, might have been good if we had wanted to make money, to make a common place of amusement.”

PeopleIfsYearsMayHas BeensReasonWholeMightWantedCoursesCommonAdviceSucceedTheatreMaking MoneyReason WhyFriendlyMight Have BeenAmusement
Book:The Collected Plays: The tragedies and tragic-comedies
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“May we, as image makers, shapers of the culture, set our sights on things we value, rituals we engage in that heal and serve. May our images honor the ordinary endeavors of common people, and may they make their way to the eyes of the weary - light to the dark, fire to the chill.”

PeopleWayMayLightEyeValuesCultureDarkCommonFireHonorOrdinarySightHealEndeavorMakersRitualWearyChill
Book:A Waist Is a Terrible Thing to Mind: A Wake Up Call
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“Charles Murray, however, clearly believes that being able to cure fatal diseases is more important than some other things and that Rembrandt was a greater artist than your local sidewalk cartoon sketcher. Most people might regard this as obvious common sense but some of the intelligentsia may be seething with resentment at seeing their pet fetishes ignored.”

PeopleBelieveMayImportantMightAbleArtistCommonGreaterSeeingDiseaseRegardObviousLocalsCommon SenseCuresPetResentmentIgnoredCartoonSidewalkFetishSeething
Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays
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“There are, however, exceptions to this reliance on feelings as evidence of truth: if, for instance, your feelings lead to disbelief instead of belief, they're apt to be dismissed as some form of denial. This is not a common problem. Usually intellectualism, not feeling reality, is blamed for disbelief. But, some angel experts suggest, there may be emotional as well as intellectual barriers to belief: unwillingness to believe in angels can reflect low self-esteem.”

IfsBelieveWellsMaySelfFeelingsProblemRealityFormBeliefCommonAtheismSelf EsteemEmotionalIntellectualLowsEvidenceAngelPositive AtheismEsteemInstanceDenialExpertsExceptionBarriersRelianceDisbeliefLow Self EsteemIntellectualism
Author:Wendy Kaminer
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“That author who draws a character, even though to common view incongruous in its parts, as the flying-squirrel, and, at differentperiods, as much at variance with itself as the caterpillar is with the butterfly into which it changes, may yet, in so doing, be not false but faithful to facts.”

MayCharacterFactsViewsCommonFictionCreativityDrawsFlyingFaithfulButterflySquirrelsCaterpillarsVariance
Book:The Confidence-man: His Masquerade
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“There is, indeed a more mitigated scepticism or academical philosophy, which may be both durable and useful, and which may, in part, be the result of this Pyrrhonism, or excessive scepticism, when its undistinguished doubts are corrected by common sense and reflection.”

MayPhilosophyResultsCommonDoubtReflectionCommon SenseSkepticismScepticism
Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding ; [with] A Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh ; [and] An Abstract of a Treatise of Human Nature
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“Style is, above all, a system of forms with a quality and a meaningful expression through which the personality of the artist andthe broad outlook of a group are visible,... communicating and fixing certain values of religious, social, and moral life through the emotional suggestiveness of forms. It is, besides, a common ground against which innovations and individuality of particular works may be measured.”

MayArtFormArtistCertainValuesSocialReligiousCommonQualityMoralGroupsStyleEmotionalParticularExpressionPersonalityInnovationIndividualityCommunicateMeaningfulVisibleBroadsOutlookAestheticsFixingCommon GroundMoral Life
Book:Theory and Philosophy of Art: Style, Artist, and Society
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“The Russians are going to be expansionist whether we [USA] provoke them to it or not. Russians keep saying that we're trying to encircle them. In what sense does the independence of Kosovo, a land-locked province, former Yugoslavia, with no common border with Russia, threaten Russia with encirclement? This is insulting. In what sense does the independence of Georgia constitute an encirclement? What we are facing, and we may as well give it its right name, is what I called it earlier, a chauvinistic, theocratic in part, xenophobic Russian imperialism.”

GivingTryingWellsMayDoeNamesCommonLandIndependenceRussiaFormerBordersUsaLockedProvokingImperialismInsultingGeorgiaProvincesKosovoYugoslavia
Author:Christopher Hitchens
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“It is a common thing to screw up justice to the pitch of an injury. A man may be over-righteous, and why not over-grateful, too? There is a mischievous excess that borders so close upon ingratitude that it is no easy matter to distinguish the one from the other; but, in regard that there is good-will in the bottom of it, however distempered; for it is effectually but kindness out of the wits.”

MenMayMatterEasyJusticeCommonKindnessRegardGratefulBottomWitBordersInjuryWhy NotExcessRighteousScrewsGood WillScrew UpsIngratitudeMischievousCommon Things
Author:Seneca the Younger
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“Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects and effects, a defect of which we become more sensible by every attempt to supply it. Vulgar and inactive minds confound familiarity with knowledge and conceive themselves informed of the whole nature of things when they are shown their form or told their use; but the speculatist, who is not content with superficial views, harasses himself with fruitless curiosity, and still, as he inquires more, perceives only that he knows less.”

KnowsMindHumansWellsMayStillsReasonWholeUseTruthFormPeaceSidesViewsCommonEducationKnowledgeVirtueEffectsObjectsIgnoranceCuriosityPerceiveArroganceSensibleSuperficialDefectsVulgarFamiliarityMortification
Author:Samuel Johnson
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“I am not of the opinion generally entertained in this country [England], that man lives by Greek and Latin alone; that is, by knowing a great many words of two dead languages, which nobody living knows perfectly, and which are of no use in the common intercourse of life. Useful knowledge, in my opinion, consists of modern languages, history, and geography; some Latin may be thrown into the bargain, in compliance with custom, and for closet amusement.”

KnowsMenMayTwoCountryUseLanguageCommonEducationOpinionKnowledgeKnowingLearningModernEnglandGreekGreat MenThrownLive ByCustomsLatinClosetsAmusementGeographyIntercourseBargainsComplianceUseful KnowledgeModern Languages
Author:Lord Chesterfield
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“If we suppose a sufficient righteousness and intelligence in men to produce presently, from the tremendous lessons of history, an effective will for a world peace - that is to say, an effective will for a world law under a world government - for in no other fashion is a secure world peace conceivable - in what manner may we expect things to move towards this end? . . . It is an educational task, and its very essence is to bring to the minds of all men everywhere, as a necessary basis for world cooperation, a new telling and interpretation, a common interpretation, of history.”

IfsMenWorldMindMayEndsGovernmentMovingLawCommonFashionProduceLessonsTasksEssenceBasesEducationalSecureSufficientInterpretationRighteousnessCooperationWorld Government
Author:H. G. Wells
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“This is practically the language used to fallen women, and chiefly by their own sex: "God may forgive you, but we never can!" - a declaration which, however common, in spirit if not in substance, is, when one comes to analyse it, unparalleled in its arrogance of blasphemy. That for a single offence, however grave, a whole life should be blasted, is a doctrine repugnant even to Nature's own dealings in the visible world.”

IfsWorldShouldMayWholeUsedSpiritLanguageSexCommonForgivingWhole LifeGravesDoctrineSubstanceFallenArroganceVisibleDeclarationBlasphemyOffenceDealings
Author:Dinah Maria Murlock Craik
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“An ideal is an unselfish aspiration. Its purpose is the general welfare not only of this but of future generations. It is a thing of the spirit. It is a generous and humane desire that all men may share equally in a common good. Our ideals are the cement, which binds human society.”

MenHumansMaySpiritDesirePurposeCommonGenerationsShareIdealsWelfareGenerousAspirationHumaneFuture GenerationHuman SocietyCommon GoodUnselfishCementGeneral Welfare
Book:Herbert Hoover: Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President
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“There is some evidence that average wave heights are slowly rising, and that freak waves of eighty or ninety feet are becoming more common. Wave heights off the coast of England have risen an average of 25 percent over the past couple of decades, which converts to a twenty-foot increase in the highest waves over the next half century. One cause may be the tightening of environmental laws, which has reduced the amount of oil flushed into the oceans by oil tankers.”

MayPastLawNextCausesWaterCommonHalfFeetCenturyAmountCoupleBecomingOceanHighestPercentEvidenceIncreaseEnglandTwentiesEnvironmentalAverageWaveOilDecadesHeightRisingFreakCoastNinetyEightyRisenOver The PastBecoming More
Author:Sebastian Junger
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“I tend to avoid melodrama. I try to create very realistic settings and very realistic experiences and realistic responses to these experiences. Melodrama is the use of really big events that may or may not happen in real life - certainly they do, but they're not events that are common to most people. Most of the things that happen in my novels are things that could happen to people in real life.”

PeopleTryingMayRealUseBigsHappensCommonNovelEventsResponseReal LifeSettingSettingsRealisticMelodramaBig Events
Author:Nicholas Sparks
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“Prosperity, pleasure and success, may be rough of grain and common in fibre, but sorrow is the most sensitive of all created things. There is nothing that stirs in the whole world of thought to which sorrow does not vibrate in terrible and exquisite pulsation. The thin beaten-out leaf of tremulous gold that chronicles the direction of forces the eye cannot see is in comparison coarse. It is a wound that bleeds when any hand but that of love touches it, and even then must bleed again, though not in pain.”

WorldMayDoeWholeHandsEyePainForcePleasureCommonSadnessTerribleSorrowSadGoldProsperityWoundsWhole WorldSensitiveComparisonRoughGrainBeatenLeafsExquisiteCoarseChroniclesVibrate
Book:De profundus
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“Since my logic aims to teach and instruct the understanding, not that it may with the slender tendrils of the mind snatch at and lay hold of abstract notions (as the common logic does), but that it may in very truth dissect nature, and discover the virtues and actions of bodies, with their laws as determined in matter; so that this science flows not merely from the nature of the mind, but also from the nature of things.”

MindMayDoeMatterBodyActionLawScienceUnderstandingCommonTeachVirtueFlowLogicAimLaysNotionDeterminedAbstractSlender
Book:Works of Francis Bacon: 4
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“Science and art may invent splendid modes of illuminating the apartments of the opulent; but these are all poor and worthless compared with the common light which the sun sends into all our windows, which he pours freely, impartially over hill and valley, which kindles daily the eastern and western sky; and so the common lights of reason, and conscience, and love, are of more worth and dignity than the rare endowments which give celebrity to a few.”

GivingMayArtReasonLightPoorCommonSunSkyConscienceDignityWindowAnd LoveWesternHillsValleysApartmentWorthlessEasternSplendidArt And ScienceKindlesEndowmentIlluminatingHills And ValleysWestern Sky
Book:Self-culture: An address introductory to the Franklin lectures, delivered at Boston, September, 1838
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“One man with an idea in his head is in danger of being considered a madman: two men with the same idea in common may be foolish, but can hardly be mad; ten men sharing an idea begin to act, a hundred draw attention as fanatics, a thousand and society begins to tremble, a hundred thousand and there is war abroad, and the cause has victories tangible and real; and why only a hundred thousand? Why not a hundred million and peace upon the earth? You and I who agree together, it is we who have to answer that question.”

MenMayTwoIdeasWarRealEarthTogetherCausesAnswersCommonAttentionMillionsDangerVictoryThousandTenDrawsHundredAgreeMadFoolishWhy NotOne ManFanaticsTangibleMadmen
Book:William Morris on Art and Socialism
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